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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30090384">Skeletons and Direct Current</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripesnBooks/pseuds/StripesnBooks'>StripesnBooks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Depression, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Loving friendship, Multi, Polyamory, Reader is depressed and anxious, Reverse Harem, but getting help, lovely skeleton boyfriends are helpful, soulmate</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:29:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30090384</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripesnBooks/pseuds/StripesnBooks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Papyrus had the worst day of his life. His brother was sucked into a machine that he didn't even know had been in the basement, and was replaced by a Skeleton that looked just like Papyrus! And this was only the first one...</p><p>You had a bad day. You just wanted to spend some time with your best friend Papyrus and calm down. But Papyrus has a guest. And then another. And another. Who are they, and why do they keep coming here? And... why do all of them insist on flirting with you? it's really not funny...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Papyrus (Underswap)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (underfell)/reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Skeletons and Direct Current</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Papers and writing utensils whipped around the room as Sans the skeleton furiously typed away at the keyboard. His jacket flew out behind him in the wild winds generated by the machine, those same winds drying the sweat on his skull almost as soon as it appeared. A crack sounded as one of the wooden tables was ripped from where it had been moored to the floor and went flying into the eye of the maelstrom. Through the white light at the center of the doorway on the machine. Eye lights shrunken to pinpricks in his sockets, Sans redoubled his efforts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door at the top of the stairs opened, and a taller and lankier skeleton appeared. "SANS?!" Papyrus yelled to be heard over the roar of rushing air. "SANS, WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans snapped his head to face the door, face full of fear. "Papyrus! Get out of here!" His wheeled chair began rolling backwards, and the skeleton was forced to stand up, learning forward against the pull of the vortex. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"NO! NOT WITHOUT YOU!" Papyrus began walking down the steps, bracing himself on the railing. "COME ON, LET'S GET OUT!" he held out his long arm, reaching for his brother. In his panic, for a split second he saw another face on top of Sans', a familiar one. But it quickly passed as he watched his brothers eye light flick back and forth between the keyboard and Papyrus' outstretched hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Paps, i’m so close, i just have to-!” the wind seemed to double in force as all the smaller loose items went flying off the desk and into the portal. Sans dug his phalanges deep into the wood of his desk, grateful that it was bolted to the ground. His sockets widened in panic as the computer began to slip off the desk and into the maelstrom.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“BROTHER, PLEASE! I CAN’T LOSE YOU! NOT AGAIN!”  Papyrus wailed, inching closer to his brother. The pull of the vortex was powerful, but the angle of the wall next to the stairs helped the taller skeleton to brace himself. He stretched out his arm again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sans threw an anguished look back at the keyboard and the materials that still remained on the desk, before flinging out one hand to reach for Papyrus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It all happened so fast.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The splintering of wood.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A desperate shout.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An anguished scream.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And a computer crashing to the ground as the unnatural pull abruptly vanished.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The machine seemed to have been sated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sated by the capture of his brother’s Soul.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus slid to his knees. And he wept.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh, sorry if i’m interrupting… but who the hell are you and where am i?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The strangely familiar voice shocked Papyrus from his mourning. Slowly, he looked up to the source. In the middle of the doorway-like area of the machine that had just stolen his only family, was another skeleton. A skeleton that looked very much like himself. Like looking in a mirror really, if Papyrus had poor posture and hadn’t slept in a week. He was tall and gangly like Papyrus, and wore an orange sweatshirt, cargo pants, and obnoxious pink crocs. “I…” Papyrus managed to find his voice, although it cracked a bit from his crying, “am Papyrus.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The newcomer looked him up and down, before pulling a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket, clicking the lighter until the tip of the cig caught. He took a long draught of the death stick, before letting smoke slip out of his nasal cavity. “Well that's pretty damn strange. Because so am i.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You had had a bad day. Tears streaked your face as you hid in the office bathroom. Perhaps it had even been a very bad day. Your performance review came in, you had a meeting with your disappointed boss, and told to shape up if you wanted to keep your job. Then you were saddled with a mountain of extra work, some of it barely formatted, and someone stole your lunch from the lounge fridge. You had used up most of your paycheck, and there were still three days til the next payday. It was a bad day. Quieting your sobs and controlling your facial expressions, you washed your face before exiting the building as gracefully as you could. It wasn't very, but you made it to your car before bursting into tears again, and driving off. Only one thing could fix such a terrible day, you knew. Hanging out with your best friend. The drive was long enough to calm you down again, with just the occasional sniffle as you pulled into the parking lot. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Walking up and knocking on the front door, you called out,  "Papyrus, can I come in? It's been a bad day…"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You thought you heard sounds of a scuffle, before your friends voice called out. "Just a minute!" This was followed by some more thumps and what sounded very much like a stack of dirty dishes being knocked on the floor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are you okay?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"'M fine, thanks for asking…" you barely heard Papyrus mutter, before I was closely followed by a "SHUSH!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm… I'm coming in!" Luckily the door was unlocked; you really weren't in the mood to dig around in your purse for the spare key. You turned into the house to see Papyrus in the kitchen, sweating, staring nervously at you with his hands behind his back. On the floor were the remnants of some ceramic dishes, along with some dirty water (or old soup? ew) and a few crumbs. “Oh goodness what happened? Are you okay?” You approached the skeleton, who backed up against the pantry door as you set your purse on the table and began crouching down and picking up the larger shards of ceramic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I! Am! Perfectly fine!” Papyrus stated, “and please don't pick those up, you can cut your fragile human skin. I’ll take care of it, why don’t you go sit in the living room? The living room is a great place to sit and tell me about why you are sad! Then I can tell you about why I am very not sad! And then you can go home!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You looked up at Papyrus, hurt by his words. “Sorry… i should have called ahead, today was just…. It’s stupid, i can go…” your gaze dropped to the floor as you stood up, tossing a couple pieces of unfortunate crockery in the bin. You could feel the tears pricking at your eyes, and you wiped them away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, friend!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You looked down. Papyrus had grabbed your arm. And his gloves were sticky. Very sticky.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that… honey?” Papyrus dropped your arm and you pulled it up to sniff the sticky substance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um… no?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You licked it. “Yes it is!” You turned around, squinting. “What are you hiding Papyrus? You’d never make a mess like this by yourself!” you began looking around for more evidence. The honey bottle was in Papyrus’ other hand, leaking all over. You had already noticed the broken dishes on the floor, but now you noticed spices shakers and some baking items had also spilled out of the cabinets and onto the counter. As Papyrus began to sweat even harder, you looked to the cupboard. “Did you bring in another raccoon?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!” Papyrus dashed in front of the cupboard door before you could reach for it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You frowned. “Do you want me to leave?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then let me know what you’re hiding.” you crossed your arms, trying to look stern. “Plus if you got a dog or something you can’t feed it honey. They’re not like monsters.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Woof,” came a voice from in the pantry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Your eyes widened. “That… was not a dog.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus looked between you and the pantry, before deflating and stepping away. You walked up and opened the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey there honey. Nice ta meet ya.” leaning on the door jam, looking down at you with a lollipop between his teeth, was Papyrus. But… not exactly. Instead of being well dressed and with impeccable posture and hygiene, this version of your friend was slouched, with dark orange circles under his sockets. He wore a stained orange hoodie and khakis, with bright pink crocs, and smelled faintly of smoke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um… hi?” you squeaked, gaze darting back to the skeleton you knew.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus threw his hands in the air. “My friend, meet… Stretch.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, i didn’t agree to that nickname,” Stretch said as he strode out of the closet, casually snatching the honey from Papyrus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well you didn’t come up with anything- don’t drink that!” Papyrus grabbed at the bottle, but the stranger merely blipped out of existence, reappearing directly behind you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Eep!” you jumped away, into the sticky arms of Papyrus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Stretch chuckled, “sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, um…” you glanced between the two again. “Are you… related?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In a manner of speaking…” Papyrus mumbled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“‘M a version of Papyrus from another universe,” Stretch said, causing Papyrus to have a conniption.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can’t just! That’s! Shouldn’t we?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You just sighed and moved into the living room. “Well, nice to meet you. Can me and Paps have some alone time?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lucky dog,” Stretch said with a wink and a nudge, before going upstairs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Papyrus fiddled with his gloves for a bit, before washing himself off in the sink. You absent-mindedly licked at the honey on your arm as he made his way onto the couch next to you. “I’m… sorry for dropping this on you suddenly. This dropped rather suddenly on me as well! And Sans is…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You looked up at your friend. “I just want to cuddle a bit. Sorry I dropped by at the same time as your… brother? Cousin? I just… is it selfish of me to still want you to comfort me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was quiet for a moment. “... Maybe a little selfish. But selfish is not automatically bad.” He scooped you close to him and you let out a sigh that contained all your stress. Papyrus gave the best cuddles. You stayed like that for a while, making light conversation. Papyrus offered to put on a show, but you declined.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks Paps, I think I’m good now. I’m sorry for sending your relative away like that.” You moved to stand, but Papyrus gripped you even tighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Actually… can you stay a little longer?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You settled back in. “family issues?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was quiet a while longer. “Stretch… is not my family.” You waited, holding back your questions. “He is… well, me, from another universe. Sans was… working on something, I don’t know what. And it… it took him.” He looked down at you, and you saw the tears leaking from his sockets. “It took him! It spat out Stretch and it took MY BROTHER!” Papyrus began to wail. You really didn’t understand, but your heart rate quickened at the thought of something happening to Sans. You hugged Papyrus tight, sympathetic tears already gathering in your own eyes. You weren’t as close to Sans as you were with Papyrus, but he was still your friend. Something took him? Was Stretch blackmailing him for ransom or something?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m here,” you whispered, holding him and rubbing his back gently. Eventually Papyrus calmed enough to let you go. “You want to stay with me for a bit? Do we need to report Stretch to the guard?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She doesn’t get it.” you turned to see Stretch coming in from the backyard, which was definitely not the direction he exited earlier. But it already seemed he had teleportation abilities like Sans. “You should show her the machine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Your face held a question that Papyrus really didn’t want to answer. “...alright. Follow me, friend.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is an idea i've had for a while, and hopefully will get a Sans-centric brother fic. hopefully you enjoy, i'll try to update sporadically!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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